The present invention relates to power packs and, more specifically to low profile power packs having an integrated driver circuit.
A power pack is a power supply unit that converts the available power line or battery voltage to the voltage values required by a unit of electronic equipment. A power pack may include only one semiconductor power device with appropriate packaging (i.e., a power semiconductor module) or may include a plurality of semiconductor power devices with appropriate packaging and configuration circuitry. The Improved capabilities of semiconductor power devices such as MOS Controlled Thyristors and Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors in handling high current, voltage, and switching speed requirements has caused a need for more effective means of cooling power packs or dissipating energy generated by the power devices. For example, without effective cooling increased current rating for power packs are inconsequential.
There is also a demand for the rapid physical and electrical integration of power packs into applications while minimizing system footprint or compromising performance. Prior art devices provide power semiconductor power packs having a top lid, base plate, and power semiconductor device which is sandwiched between the lid and plate. In the prior art, the lid and power semiconductor device are attached using duck feet or copper balls to allow electrical conduction through the lid. Additionally, the prior art includes power packs having a driver circuit stacked on the power semiconductor device between the lid and base plate. These devices generally do not provide isolated cooling for the driver circuit, parallel cooling for the driver circuit and power semiconductor device, extremely low thermal resistance for the power semiconductor device and driver circuit, simple interface capability, two sided cooling, and the capability of being stacked and interconnected to form larger more complex power packs.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel flat power pack.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel low profile power pack having a simple control interface.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a novel two-sided cooled and two-sided external bus power pack including a driver circuit.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel layered power electronics module having a middle layer including a power device and a driver circuit.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a novel flat power pack having outside surfaces that bond directly to a heat exchanger.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a novel power pack having driver circuitry with two sided cooling.